"Bethel Search and Rescue"

RiverWatch officials say the jam has led to flooding and high water in Tuluksak and Akiak, and could impact downstream communities as well.

Bethel Search and Rescue is still searching for a group of moose hunters missing for a week and a half near Bethel — and for another hunter missing for over a week near Kalskag.

There are cars and small trucks traveling on the frozen Kuskokwim River around Bethel, but don’t call it an ice road yet.

Recent storms have battered the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta coast and dumped many feet of snow in various places. Some are saying this is more snow than they’ve seen in decades.

Two men, Peter Sallaffie and Joseph Hale, drove into an unmarked open hole in the ice near Tuluksak. The loss marks the first deaths to open water along the Kuskokwim River this winter.

The Coast Guard stopped searching for the overdue boaters on Oct. 27 after searching Nunivak Island and the western coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region for four days.

This spring has seen record-breaking warm temperatures across Alaska. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the Kuskokwim River is melting early — with devastating consequences.

The costs from dealing with climate change are starting to become more visible in Bethel, a hub town for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. There are also costs to the region’s lifestyle.

For decades, Bethel Search and Rescue has flown with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor winter river conditions. But the shutdown has forced the group to turn to pricey commercial airlines for help.

A father’s body has been recovered from the Kuskokwim River after he and his family fell through a marked, open hole the night of New Year’s Eve.